From the first few words of this book, the reader enters the whirlwind of activity that might not be too inaccurate from the Israelites' long past. Andrews relates the story of Ishma. Perhaps she was named for the past, present, or future desolation that she and the nation of Israel experienced, for that is what Ishma means--"desolation". And yet, though her new master, Isaiah, gives her a new name meaning "delight of the Lord", she still struggles with the desolation inside herself and throughout her nation.

There are so many things to love about this book...and to learn as well. I love Yaira's unwavering commitment to the Lord's will through her life, despite the tragic events. I love Hezi's devotion to God even when he lived in the center of wicked palace life. I love Isaiah’s perseverance and courage to prophecy even though it might take his life. And Ishma…I love her for who she is and who she becomes.

Andrews weaves an incredible story surrounding the period of King Ahaz and King Hezekiah, while creating fictional characters to emphasize the humanity of men and the awesomeness of God. I’m still not quite sure I appreciated the portrayal of Isaiah as a righteous prophet yet often misinterpreting prophecies based on his opinion, but I suppose some things are an author’s liberty. ;) And at times I thought Queen Abijah was a bit too fictional, but in no way did either of these elements detract from the message of this book. I loved Isaiah's prophecy because it showed how people could misinterpret God's word at that time, but also it showed how greatly they longed for the coming Messiah and how they lived in the expectation of that hope.

The history that was well-written and included throughout the chapters. Each chapters opens with a passage of Scripture—often from Isaiah and it’s amazing to see how some of the culture and Jewish history would be present in such scenes. Often we read our Bibles with our 21st century mindset and because we know the stories so well, we forget the nation of Israel and its customs and its people. What they wore, how they lived, what they ate and sold, and what they did for work. And sometimes we even forget that they had feelings too. They were fearful for their future, being surrounded by enemies, receiving warnings and prophecies that were uncertain and not always able to be interpreted right away. They had to wait too. They suffered persecution and judgment and yet in the end still remained the beloved people of God. Hephzibah’s title reminds Isaiah and the king (and yes, herself) that God does turn mourning into gladness, and that, after the darkest of nights, joy comes at dawn.

Mesu Andrews has taken on the task of bringing the Old Testament Scriptures to life by intermingling factual accounts with fictional subplots to recreate the story of King Hezekiah and his wife, Queen Hephzibah. The tale begins in 732 BCE with five year old Ishma and her new found friend twelve year old Yaira being forced to march from Bethlehem to Samaria by the Israeli soldiers who killed their parents. Their relocation to Samaria is rejected and they find themselves as refugees headed towards Jericho where they are met by the prophet Micah, Yaira's brother, who leads them both to safety in Jerusalem to become members of the household of Isaiah. Ishma, who has remained mute since witnessing her mother's violent death, is able to assist King Ahaz son, Hezekiah, recoup from his own traumatic experience, blaming himself for his brother's role as a living sacrifice to appease the gods.

The Profit Isaiah has been chastised for his prophesies predicting the wrathful Yahweh's punishment against Judah due to the numerous false idols worshipped by his chosen people. His new task, a demotion, is to teach the young royals and other sons of the prominent members of court. Ishma, now a soothing companion to Hezekiah, joins the group, despite being a girl. Her perceptiveness makes her a good sparring partner in the discussions on God's laws. The times are volatile, with Assyria demanding tributes and threatening war against the nearby communities. At twelve, Hezekiah begins his training as a soldier and eventually accompanies his father on the road as they negotiate with their enemies and try to develop alliances. Hezekiah, with the title of co-regent, carefully observes, adhoring, yet recognizing the ingenuity behind his vicious father's actions. When given the chance, Hezekiah vows to destroy the pagan temples and return to Yahweh, the one true God. His childhood companion, Ishma, now adopted by Isaiah with the name of Hephzibah, becomes his Queen and they rule together attempting to broker a peace, despite the continued threat from the Assyrian Army.

Led by both biblical text and written history from this time period, Andrews' Isaiah's Daughter, the first in the Prophets and Kings series, successfully recreates the scriptures making them more approachable for the average reader. Each chapter begins with a biblical quote, many of them prophecies, from the books of Kings and Chronicles as well as Isaiah and the Psalms. There is an annotated list of names, indicating which are fictional and which are historical figures. The narrative text also includes some first person accounts, usually by Ishma, but other characters as well. A map of the area helps the reader visualize the locations of the numerous "frenemies". While the main setting is Jerusalem, the conflicts bring the warring neighbors into the mix. Andrews takes her time developing the characters from their childhood antics into their role as rulers. A little more than halfway into the book the story slows down and tends to drag (which could easily have been resolved by eliminating the nonessential plot points), however, the astonishing chronicled events leading up to the climax are worth the wait.

This is a fascinating look into the scriptures, as well as a thought provoking perspective on the Middle East. Four stars and a thank you to Netgalley for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed reading Isaiah's Daughter. It has a good plot, likeable characters, and captured my attention from the first page.

As a Christian, I felt that the author took liberties with the characters of the Bible. Isaiah taking in an orphan girl, changing her name to Hephzibah, and Hezekiah taking her as his queen is a bit of a stretch from Scripture. But none of us were there, so we don't really know what happened. I think the author did a good job of creating a story that could have happened.

MESU ANDREWS has done it again! She has given us another beautifully worked out biblical novel. ISAIAH'S DAUGHTER takes place during the last part of the wicked King Ahab of Judah's reign and the reign of his godly son Hezekiah. As the title suggests, Isaiah, Yahweh's prophet, features strongly in the story. In her inimitable way the Author fleshes out the biblical story without in any way compromising the truth of scripture. She has done a great deal of research and gives us a real feeling of life at that time in history. The story not only follows the historical books of the bible, where we are told of Hezekiah's reign, but also the book of Isaiah with its prophecies. I love the way we see how prophecies, which are fulfilled in the New Testament, are taken personally by Hezi and Zibah.
Ishma, the little orphan girl whose name means "desolate", is adopted by Isaiah and her name changes to Hephzibah, meaning "his delight is in her". This becomes a reality when she not only becomes the wife of her best friend, the king of Judah, but also realizes she is Yahweh's delight and He becomes her peace.
The characters' feelings are very well portrayed. We see how they deal with fear, loss, unforgiveness, anger and lack of faith. The very real problem of idolatry is dealt with as well. We see examples of godly marriages with Hezi and Zibah and Isaiah and Aya, as opposed to the horror of Ahaz's relationship with Abijah.
This novel is so full of biblical truth, the story kept me enthralled to the last page, and I cannot recommend it highly enough.

It has been a long wait for this novel, but having just finished this enthralling read, I can say with absolute certainty that it was worth every minute of the wait. The world of 8th Century BC Judah really comes to life in this novel, which spans almost forty years of Judah’s history during the reigns of King Ahaz and then King Hezekiah. More than that, Scripture really comes to life, and I don’t just mean in the sense that it puts flesh on the bones of the historical accounts of Kings and Chronicles. Prophecy becomes a living, breathing Word from God, and it was exciting to see these characters grappling with its meaning and application in its original context.

The story begins its narrative when Ishma and Hezekiah are still children and follows their friendship from its beginning—as two young children deeply impacted by trauma—throughout their education under Master Isaiah, and into the joys, fears, and challenges of their reign as King and Queen of Judah. They took up residence in my heart very early on in the story, and I loved the depth and richness of their friendship (and later their marriage)—the way they understood, supported, sharpened, and loved one another. Although, that’s not to say they didn’t have their rough patches!

But it’s Mesu Andrews’ spiritual and political acumen and her understanding of human nature that really gives this novel its vibrancy. I am just in awe at her ability to not only bring characters to life on the page, but also the world they live in. This is must-read Biblical fiction!

Biblical fiction can go one of only two ways, it can be done extremely well or it can do a complete 180 from that and be done completely so far from well that it’s well you know what 180 means. Even established amazing Biblical fiction authors can have those 180 books. Every time I pick one up I know the risks. Heck, I embrace the risks. It’s a genre I love and Mesu Andrews hit it out of the park with ‘Isaiah’s Daughter’. There were a few things that gave me pause but all in all this book made King Hezekiah and Queen Hephzibah come to life in all the right ways.

Let’s briefly glance over the things I was washy on and get to the good stuff. There were some word phrases and choices I wasn’t sure would have been relevant or appropriate during this time. ‘Two shakes of a lambs tail’ uttered by the midwife when she left to get poppy seed after Hephzibah’s first miscarriage. ‘Heartburn’ as mentioned by Hephzibah during her pregnancy when she talked about the burning in the back of her throat. This feels like a more recent reference term to me and less like it would have been a thing during the time of the Kings. Finally, when the doctor referred to Hezekiah’s illness as the ‘black death’. He referenced it to his time studying in Egypt and while the plague has been traced to potential roots in ancient Egypt I couldn’t find anything referencing that moniker for that time period. Outside those three measly word choices the other part that bugged me just a bit was the time jumps. I don’t mind time jumps generally, but until I was a bit into the chapter I wasn’t sure who was speaking or how much time had passed. It was annoying to occasionally have to go back and re-read the first paragraph or two to truly understand once I’d figured out who and how long. I was reading an advanced reader copy so it is possible that a simple header of each chapter was added to the final copy that would have prevented this confusion. Lastly, the Epilogue. Really? While I get ‘why’ it was included I feel like it did absolutely nothing to enhance the book and actually detracted from the story of Ishma/Hephzibah as a whole. This was her story from being a child refugee of war, to the adopted daughter of a prophet, to Queen of Judah. This was her story of finding her center in Yahweh and her love in Hezekiah and her place in history. This was not about her infant son with ten fingers and ten long narrow toes. This was not about his future but his beginning. Who he became took away from who she was. The epilogue can just go…m’kay?

Let’s talk good stuff, shall we? One thing I truly appreciated in this book was how it started with Ishma, renamed Hephzibah as a teen, as a young child. The horrors that are war were muted when told through a child’s view. Not that I think war, and the atrocities that go along with it, is something we should mute in our lives. We are forever dealing with that in society even today and when we choose to mute it then that gives it power to grow. However, that doesn’t mean that everything needs to be played out in our fiction. Getting to grow up with Ishma brought a wholeness to the story of the would be queen. I loved that each chapter was started with a verse relevant to the story as a whole and the chapter specifically. I loved the inclusion of prophecy and the arguments that it brought out in two people who truly loved each other. Let’s face it. I struggle with names and dates and timelines and all the things that come so easy to other people. I’ve studied Old Testament and the time of the Kings without much success in keeping it all straight or even the why things happened. Whey did the tribes split into two nations? Why were some so horridly evil? I’ve studied it but I’ve never truly understood it. I mean I still don’t, but for this brief moment in all of this, ‘Isaiah’s Daughter’ put just a part of that in perspective. OK, fine I’ll still be lost in the jumble of words that is the Kings. The truth is this story, with all the liberties that even Biblical fiction authors take in their words, brought this story of this king and his time on this earth into a perspective that I’ll never gain by Biblical study. Fiction that enhances truth by taking real people that walked this earth and make them relateable and knowable and whole again. Ultimately, that is what makes a great book.

I was provided a complimentary copy of this book by Blogging for Books, NetGalley, Waterbrook Press. I was not compensated for this review and all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own. I was not required to write a positive review.